My Slimming World #01
I hold my hands up and admit that I have been rather naughty recently and have slowly put on a lot of the weight that I have lost. Albeit I am not as heavy as I was but I am not happy with this weight gain and I am not happy in myself. I know that having PCOS and Endometriosis means that it’s a lot harder for me to lose weight - you can read my experience with PCOS and Endo here – but if I am honest, I think that I have hid behind that as an excuse to hide what’s really been going on. I have been feeling really crappy in myself, not only do I suffer from anxiety but I have also been extremely stressed with planning my wedding abroad as well as a few other little things that I haven’t been myself. I haven’t felt happy or motivated to do a lot of things and when I get home from work, all I’ve done is just sit in my pj’s and stream Netflix or watch telly with my now husband.
And I think eventually it becomes a vicious circle. I think when you’re unhappy in yourself then you end up seeing the negative in everything, you end up not giving a crap about eating healthy, losing weight or socialising with people which makes you even more unhappy, as well as making me feel secluded, tired and unmotivated. It makes you get worked up about eating the wrong things, about not being the weight that you want or not getting certain tasks done. And it’s hard. Sometimes I think that the hardest battle is the one with your mind. It may sound stupid to some, but I am hoping that I am not the only one who feels like this sometimes. I have become to understand that your mind is sometimes the problem. If you can’t control your own mind and genuinely want to lose weight or do things that you want to do, then you’ll never be able to do them as you’ll always start something and then give up as it’s too hard or when you've lost motivation. I know, I’ve been there. And it’s only now that I am starting to realise even more that life really is too short. You wasn’t put on this earth to be unhappy. You only get one life, so whether it means you want to lose weight, learn a new language, travel, study or quit your job and follow your dream. Then do it!
The first thing I have decided to tackle is my weight. I know I am not at my heaviest but I am not happy, and I have made excuses after excuses about diets etc not working for me. I know that it’s harder now with my diagnosis but the only thing I can do to help reduce symptoms is also to lose weight, and subsequently that will make me more happy with myself and will mean that I am less anxious or stressed about how I look on the outside.
You may (or may not) have read my previous post on My Weightloss Journey with Slimming World, but this was a diet that I didn’t see as a diet. You still managed to eat the things that you loved i.e. chips, meat, chocolate, but with slight changes. SW made me think about the way that I cook food, and just something as simple as boiling potatoes and using 1% olive oil to make chips – and darn good chips might I add – yet they were within the plan as they were real food. I could still indulge in chocolate if I wanted to, as long as you counted this as a syn. SW say that it’s good to eat lots of lean meat, fruit and vegetables but it’s all about the balance. Making sure that you don’t miss out on protein or carbs in your diet as it really is essential. And also, they encourage you to syn as your body can handle a few naughty treats every now and again. That isn’t to say you have to have a chocolate bar every day, but if you wanted to then you could, but if you didn’t want to then you might just want to add a dollop of mayo to your dinner.
SLIMMING WORLD OVERVIEW – EXTRA EASY PLAN
Super free foods
Super free foods are all the good colourful foods that you should be having in your meals, including fresh fruit (excluding any tinned fruit as this is just full of sugar), vegetables (likewise, avoid frozen potatoes or frozen parsnips as these don’t count), pasta including both brown and white (although white pasta means that you could either have a smaller portion or end up using some syns) and baked beans. You can eat as many super free foods as you want per day, just make sure that you are cooking these foods correctly, using the correct portion sizes and that you are having 1/3 of your total daily intake.
Free foods
Free foods include potatoes, white and brown rice, eggs, fish and seafood and your lean meats. Lean meat includes low fat lean mince, pork and bacon (fat removed), poultry (skin removed) and lean red meats like steaks. The most important thing with cooking free foods is to make sure if it’s meat that there is no fat or skin included as this makes the free food a syn food. When cooking potatoes, if boiled or cooked in the oven with 1% fry light olive oil then this is also free. But the moment you add butter or milk to your mask or add a drizzle of butter to your roasties, then these become naughty potatoes. Again, you can eat as many free foods as you want, but you need to make sure they are cooked correctly (basically, cut the fat off) and the total portion size sshould total 2/3 of your total daily intake.
Healthy Extra’s
Slimming World has two healthy extras which you need to have one per day. Healthy Extra A is something dairy, this can be to milk in your tea or coffee, or some cheese with your jacket spud. Healthy Extra B is your carbs, so anything from porridge oats and nuts to riveta and bread. Whatever you choose for your healthy extra’s its important to ensure that you weigh/measure your food right and make sure that you are having your Healthy Extra A and B daily. Portion size and the right balance of foods is the key to successful weight loss with Slimming World.
Syns
Now for the naughty – but not really that naughty – syns. Each day Slimming World recommend you to have around 15 syns, but I usually stick between 5-12 syns as I don’t want to force myself having too much. If I haven’t had enough syns in a day, I may snack on a Muller greek yoghurt corner as these are around 4 ½ syns each. Or I might have a mug of Options hot chocolate which are about 2 syns each.
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In a nut shell, that is basically Slimming World’s extra easy plan. They do also have a green plan which focuses more on fruit and vegetables and a red plan that is more carbs in your daily plan so it really depends on which suits you. I find that the extra easy gives me a nice balance of fruit, vegetables, meat, carbs and naughty treats. I don’t feel like I am dieting and I definitely don’t feel like I missing out on any foods, in fact when I did SW last time I found that my cravings for food were almost invisible as I was eating more than I normally do and actually losing weight! I lost over a stone within 6 months last time I did SW, and I am determined to do the same, if not better this time! To give you an idea of what my daily food intake looks like, I’ve included todays diary below.
Breakfast:
1 x Muller Corner Greek Yoghurt (4 ½ syns)
1 Banana (free)
1 Coffee with no Sugar (free)
2 x spoons of Light Coffee Mate (1 ½ syns per tspn)
Lunch:
Jacket Potato (free)
45g low fat Cheddar cheese (Healthy A)
Tuna (free)
Extra Light Mayo (1 syn per tspn)
2 x spoons of Light Coffee Mate (1 ½ syns per tspn)
Dinner:
SW Chips (free)
Lean Meat or Poultry (free)
Salad/Steamed Vegetables (free)
Extra Light Mayo (1 syn per tspn)
Tea with Milk (free if Healthy Extra A if not count as syns)
Snacks:
Fruit – Banana, Apple, Orange, Pear, Grapes or Berries (free)
Muller Light Fat Free Yoghurt (free – some flavors are not free but are low syn)
Handful of Almonds (Healthy Extra B or can count towards syns)
Total Syns: 13.5
When you write down a list of what you eat each day, you’ll actually surprise yourself. Not only with how much you’re eating but also what type of foods you’re eating. If you have a look at the above, although I have had quite high amount of syns today, that’s mainly from using coffee mate in my coffee as even when you have the “light” option, it’s still high syns. Whereas tomorrow if I were to swap to milk, I’d notice a massive drop in my syns which frees up some space for me to have a options hot chocolate in the evening.
I am hoping that I can share some of my recipes and food ideas, whilst using a blog post as my “weekly weigh in” by disclosing how much I have lost (or gained) to keep me on track towards my weight goal and hopefully help or motivate others too. I have decided not to return to a SW group as despite them being amazing and really supportive, I just know that I have done it before so I can do it again and save money whilst doing it (as it’s usually £5 per week to go and get weighed). So I have just decided to dig out my old books, get back into it myself and record my journey online. The most important thing is that I am being honest with myself on what I am eating, so keep your eyes peeled for next week’s post with my first weigh in! Don’t forget to drop a comment below if you would like to see anything in particular featured in these posts.
Weigh in Tracker:
Starting weight – Yeah nice try! I love you guys, but not enough to know how much I weigh.
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Have you followed SW before? If so what were your favourite meals?
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